”Eu and Me” – On the set!

Just a couple of weeks after I gave birth to Balie. I was already on the road and doing something else. Something exciting.

I was contacted to work on a project for European Union. First I was really surprised they chose to contact me, but then excitement hit. I was told I was to go to Gorski Kotar where they will be shooting a short film. The film was directed by a famous Croatian Director Dalibor Matanic, and the movie was tackling some very tabu topics. I instantly felt like the topic was very close to me. As a young person in European Union, and as a person who travels almost any time I can, I am very close to all types of people, of all races, sexual preferences and age. I have always been supportive of other people doing what they want as long as it doesn’t hurt people around them.

This story is about a young boy living in a small town, and he is keeping his sexuality a secret. One day out of excitement while playing football, he kisses his friend and realising what he has done, runs away. He then thinks he will be judged by the small town mentality, but his friends offer him a friendly hand, and accept him of being just that – their friend.

This short film is supposed to promote rights of all EU citizens in EU. It says ‘’we are all the same in the EU’’. I really do believe that more and more people are getting their rights, and more tolerance, and it is nice to see that some people who used to hide behind veneers, now they can be who they really are and no one will judge them.

On the first day of arriving there, we went through some amazing snowy alleys and drove to the highest town in Croatia. Snow was untouched, and it was really almost unbearably cold. I arrived in front of a barn and could see lots of people on set.

As soon as I arrived I noticed that some people have been here since 6 am, (it was 11 am when I came). I walked into the barn to take some photos of the set. I was surrounded by cows, and cow poo 🙂 I think the cow poo was warming us all up because it was steaming hot. I’m disgusting.

I have never been on a set for too long. But this was really hard, I was so impressed with all the people there working on this. It was way below -10, and no one was complaining. I am complaining now … 😀

They were shooting the barn for 2-3 hours before we went on to the next scene in the snow. This was also the last scene of the movie. It was really cold and to see this huge group of people just focusing on delivering this project… it was really wonderful.

Around 5 pm Charles came to pick me up. My uggs were wet and I literally could not feel my feet, we booked a very cute accommodation in the woods. A family house but they were renting rooms out to people. They were so nice and kind, and had the cutest dog ever!

On the second day, we went to Delnice. It was a bit easier because we only shot one location, which was the football stadium. It was a great location because it had amazing scenery around it. Again actors wore short pants and a shirt, it was just cold looking at them.

During that day I interviewed a couple of crew members about the whole concept. Because this was top secret I actually only learned some stuff while I was there. For example, I thought this would be the only movie, but actually, they are making 5! With different topics. There were many different people on the set. French, Dutch, German, Italian, Croatian and Serbian. I’m sure there were more but I didn’t get a chance to speak to everyone. The most amazing scene ‘’where they kiss’’ I couldn’t take a picture of, because it would be a complete spoiler alert. But if you are curious about this project, and you support diversity and freedom and rights. I invite you to join us on European Square in Zagreb on May 9 from 6 pm!